Protests, Not Criticism, the Target for China's Internet Censors, Study Says | Top Facebook Exec Bret Taylor Leaving To Do His Own Thing, More Departures Could Follow | Leaked Microsoft document details $299 Xbox 720 in 2013, Kinect glasses, OnLive acquisition | Four South Korean startups to watch | Samsung Display Production Briefly Halted Due to Power Outage

China's Internet censors freely allow users in the country to criticize the government, but are quick to delete social media posts with the potential to start protests, suggests a new Harvard University study released on Thursday."With respect to speech, the Chinese people are individually free but collectively in chains," said the study, which was conducted by Harvard professor Gary King and two university PhD candidates, Jennifer Pan and Margaret Roberts.China has long been infamous for its strict censorship of the Internet for anti-government content, blocking sites including Facebook and Twitter, while forcing local social networking sites in the nation to delete online posts or block[...]

And so it begins: Facebook CTO and platform guru Bret Taylor is leaving Facebook this summer, Kara Swisher is reporting, off to do a startup with Google App Engine founder Kevin Gibbs. Taylor confirmed the news in (of course) a Facebook update.This is one of the first in a wave of Facebook departures we’re hearing, as a slew of older employees have hit their four year stock cliffs, and the 90 day IPO lockout fast approaches. According to a source, many Facebook employees including one other executive are already planning what to do next.It makes sense. With the stock price low, additional RSUs granted to keep people sticking around won’t be nearly as good a retention mechanism.[...]

According to a 56-page document that an anonymous uploader posted to scribd.com — and has since been removed at the request of law firm Covington & Burling — Microsoft is planning a $299 Xbox 720 with Kinect 2 for a holiday 2013 release. Microsoft supposedly drafted the outline, which�contains a road map for the company’s Xbox division through 2015, in mid-2010. This document’s authenticity has not been verified, but Convington & Burling LLP is Microsoft’s legal counsel.The Xbox 720An included spec sheet for the Xbox 720 details the unit’s innards. The system will operate on six to eight ARM/Intel x86 cores running at 2Ghz with 4GB of memory. Sof[...]

South Korea’s future as a startup hub is still a work in progress but I see a lot of reasons to be optimistic about companies emerging from this country of 50 million people. I spent two days this past week at the BeLaunch conference in Korea, a new startup event that attracted 1,500 attendees and served as a showcase for dozens of new startups.Many of the companies are still raw and need some seasoning. And as is the case in a lot of countries, there are a lot of me-too startups, building upon an existing idea while targeting the Korean market. But I also saw some real technology on display and some innovative ideas at work. Time will tell if any of them can make a dent in their home[...]